...Dealing With The Really Really Really Really Really Really Really Really Obvious Racial Dimensions of the New Orleans Tragedy, As Taught To Me By Television And The Web Over The Last Week*: 1. Admit that poverty disproportionately affects Black people, but DO NOT think about why that is. 2. This is not the appropriate time for questions. The appropriate for questions is when nobody cares anymore. 3. Take anything that has racial implications off the table (try saying something about "not playing the race card"), then make a big deal about how what remains is not racist. 4. All Black people are to be held accountable for the actions of all other Black people. We White folks are reasonable people after all...If they want our help, all we ask in return is that no Black person ever do anything bad. 5. People who complain just want attention. And even if they don’t, what’s important for us to talk about is the fact that they’re complaining. DO NOT think about whatever it is that they’re complaining about. 6. George Bush does so care about Black people; after all, he hired two of them! I have actually heard people say this. 7. It’s their own fault for not leaving New Orleans. Remember, most Black people in the urban South have cars, gas, large savings accounts, insurance, credit cards with high limits, places to go and several weeks of vacation time that they can take whenever they want. 8. Repeat after me: "I have NO IDEA why a Black person who grew up in an impoverished, segregated environment and had been left to starve to death for five days surrounded by dead bodies wouldn’t trust a white guy running towards him with a gun." *By the way, did you notice that in his unscripted remarks on the Hurricane Benefit, Kanye West accidentally referred to "the TV" as the "the teacher" in this sentence: "And even for me to complain, I would be a hypocrite because I would turn away from the teach- …the TV because it's too hard to watch." Any thoughts, Freudians?

(c) Independent Media Center. All content is free for reprint and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere,
for non-commercial use, unless otherwise noted by author. IMC not for content (expand this). more...